It took almost no time at all on Saturday for the jobs minister, Patty Hajdu, to invoke Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to try and put an end to the labour disruption at Air Canada (which was both a strike and a lockout), instruction the Canada Industrial Relations Board to send them to binding arbitration. This after the government kept mouthing the words that the best deals happen at the bargaining table, and insisting that they are on the side of workers. Well, they’re less vocal about that part under the current leadership of Mark Carney. (More on the rise of Section 107 in a story I wrote for National Magazine a few months ago).

Patty Hajdu is invoking Section 107 to order binding arbitration for Air Canada and the flight attendants' union. #cdnpoli 1/2

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-08-16T17:11:57.456Z

But it didn’t end that easily. The union is fighting this use of Section 107, and they have opted to remain on strike because the CIRB has no enforcement mechanisms, so the disruption continues, flights continue to be cancelled, and I have no doubt that the Federal Court will be a busy place tomorrow, unless Air Canada decides that they actually want to get back to the bargaining table for real.

My prediction: the Courts will find that the use of s.107 for the Minister to direct the labour board to order binding arbitration to end a labour dispute is both unconstitutional and exceeds the statutory purpose of s.107 as it makes back to work legislation moot. #cdnlaw

— Lyle Skinner (@lyleskinner.bsky.social) 2025-08-16T23:07:55.308Z

A couple of other things to note: This is likely going to have bigger repercussions in the industry because that unpaid work is fairly standard across most airlines, and it hearkens back to an earlier age where flight attendants were promised a chance to see the world in exchange for poor wages, and well, that’s far less tenable these days considering how much seniority they need to build in order to actually get work those flights. And for the Conservatives to suddenly decide they’re on the side of flight attendants is just rank opportunism, so that they can say “Liberals bad!” Nobody actually believes they’re suddenly champions of the working class, even if they have tried to pivot to appealing to blue-collar unions.

https://bsky.app/profile/senatorpaulasimons.bsky.social/post/3lwm5ud2lmc24

https://bsky.app/profile/emmettmacfarlane.com/post/3lwksfe2c6c2o

effinbirds.com/post/7785610…

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-08-17T14:08:02.041Z

Ukraine Dispatch

An overnight drone attack on Kharkiv has killed three and injured at least seventeen others. Ukraine also says it pushed back Russians further in the Sumy region. President Zelenskyy met with his “Coalition of the Willing” allies virtually, and a number of European allies will be joining his meeting at the White House today, as Trump is looking to demand Ukraine give up more land that Russia has been unable to seize in order to “make a deal.” Here is a look at the effect of drone warfare on those on the front lines, particularly around things like medical evacuations.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney is again resorting to flattering Trump, this time on Ukraine.
• Here is an examination of the ways threats against political figures are increasing, in part because of social media and increasingly permissiveness in society.
• The lawyer for former diplomats in Cuba remains “confident” they suffered an attack by an adversary (whereas their symptoms were credibly mass hysteria).
• Here is a look at the issue of saving seeds versus intellectual property with crop varietals, and the balance (or not) in Canadian law.
• Duty-free shop owners say they’re in “crisis” as cross-border travel diminishes.
• It’s by-election day in Battle River—Crowfoot, and there are plenty of expectations for Poilievre afterward, but reluctancein the riding by locals to vote for him.
• Alberta seems to be doing everything they can to make the upcoming vaccination season a failure.
• Anne Applebaum gives a perfect summation of Friday’s faux-summit.
• Kevin Carmichael walks through the recent telecom competition decision, its importance, and why the government shouldn’t have put it on the back of the CRTC.
• My weekend column points out that Carney needs to signal to his domestic audience that there’s no deal to be had with Trump; the hard work starts right now.

Odds and ends:

New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week I discuss the use of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which was used to try and end the Air Canada labour dispute. #cdnpoli

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-08-18T03:05:58.873Z

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